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Jess Askin
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 1:34 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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"Whingeing Ninja" <whingeingninja@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BDC21EB1.1FE87%whingeingninja@hotmail.com...
| Quote: | On 18/11/04 9:08 AM, in article cngi4c$69b$1@news.netins.net, "Jess Askin"
nospam@dontbother.net> wrote:
"Qp10qp" <qp10qp@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041117150734.11389.00000974@mb-m29.aol.com...
Subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts.
From: "jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
Qp10qp wrote:
What does the expression "Get some stones, dorktoasts" mean?
"Become manlier, contemptible persons."
Thanks to you and others for this explanation. I had no idea that
"stones"
were
balls (I don't think we have that expression on this side of the drink,
But you used to -- Pepys mentions problems with his stones, for example.
It
wasn't a common usage in AmE until fairly recently, to the best of my
recollection.
IIRC The first time I heard it was around 16 years ago in a US television
program (Hill St Blues?) when a female officer chided a male colleague for
not having the stones to do the job. At the time I thought it was might
have
been used because they were trying to avoid saying "balls" in primetime.
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No doubt. TV has come up with some peculiar euphemisms to get around
censorship policies.
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R H Draney
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:01 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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Jess Askin filted:
| Quote: |
"Whingeing Ninja" <whingeingninja@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:BDC21EB1.1FE87%whingeingninja@hotmail.com...
IIRC The first time I heard it was around 16 years ago in a US television
program (Hill St Blues?) when a female officer chided a male colleague for
not having the stones to do the job. At the time I thought it was might
have
been used because they were trying to avoid saying "balls" in primetime.
No doubt. TV has come up with some peculiar euphemisms to get around
censorship policies.
|
Even before it hit TV:
"What's the matter, McFly? Got no scrotes?" - Back to the Future II
.....r |
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Stan Brown
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:01 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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"Qp10qp" <qp10qp@aol.com> wrote in alt.usage.english:
| Quote: | I had no idea that "stones" were
balls (I don't think we have that expression on this side of the drink, though
perhaps I'm sheltered).
|
It's not uncommon on this side.
A new one on me was Stewie on /Family Guy/ taunting a perceived
enemy with "I don't think you've got the grapes."
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"And if you're afraid of butter, which many people are nowa-
days, (long pause) you just put in cream." --Julia Child
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Stan Brown
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:01 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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"Jess Askin" <nospam@dontbother.net> wrote in alt.usage.english:
| Quote: | "Qp10qp" <qp10qp@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041117150734.11389.00000974@mb-m29.aol.com...
I had no idea that "stones" were
balls (I don't think we have that expression on this side of the drink,
But you used to -- Pepys mentions problems with his stones, for example.
|
Weren't those kidney stones?
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"And if you're afraid of butter, which many people are nowa-
days, (long pause) you just put in cream." --Julia Child |
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Stan Brown
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:01 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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"Mark Brader" <msb@vex.net> wrote in alt.usage.english:
| Quote: | Jerry Friedman translates:
"Become manlier, contemptible persons."
So becoming contemptible is associated with becoming manly? 
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There are vocative endings on "contemptible" and "persons". :-)
--
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://OakRoadSystems.com/
"And if you're afraid of butter, which many people are nowa-
days, (long pause) you just put in cream." --Julia Child |
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jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:03 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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Donna Richoux wrote:
| Quote: | Qp10qp <qp10qp@aol.com> wrote:
Subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts.
From: "jerry_friedman@yahoo.com
Qp10qp wrote:
What does the expression "Get some stones, dorktoasts" mean?
"Become manlier, contemptible persons."
Thanks to you and others for this explanation. I had no idea that
"stones"
were balls (I don't think we have that expression on this side of
the
drink, though perhaps I'm sheltered). Not really appropriate for
the meal
table, I fear.
I don't think they *are*. I think it's from the well-known:
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone at her.
The (dorktoast) people were criticizing the professor, and the writer
of
the comment is saying, don't criticize unless you're as accomplished.
Yes, I will acknowledge that Cassell's includes "testicle(s);
courage"
among various other slang meanings of "stone." But I don't think that
is
applicable here. Telling people to get some courage when you are
actually jumping on them for being unduly negative is not even
sensible.
Telling them to get balls would mean to speak up *more*, not to hush
up. |
I disagree. It could mean "get enough balls to stop whining and
wanting to be spoon-fed." [*]
The first relevant Google hit for "get some stones" is from
<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/07/27/fool295.DTL&type=printable>
or <http://makeashorterlink.com/?B44312FC9>:
"Question of the Week responses: What do the Giants need to do some
damage in the playoffs?
[snip]
"* Get some stones and act like they belong there and deserve to win.
They've been there five times in seven years and got bupkus to show for
it. Enough already. -- Gary P."
Connecting it with the woman taken in adultery doesn't make sense,
because the guy would be telling people to get some stones to use for
punishment. If that were his meaning, he should be saying "Put the
stones down unless you're without sin."
| Quote: | I've never heard "dorktoast" before. Maybe for some students at
this
college, "toast" is an all-purpose suffix, or an all-purpose
suffix to
insults the way "wad" was in my day.
"Toast" has been a popular silly word for the last ten years or so.
|
Over twenty in my experience.
| Quote: | I
don't know if it ever had any particular meaning besides the one of
"finished, history"; mostly, it just sounds innocent and amusing in
all
combinations. Are there any darker shades of "toast" that anyone is
aware of?
|
Not me (but I got the joke).
| Quote: | Given the evident meaning, I wonder if it derives from
"milquetoast"?
I think that one is too long forgotten. I vaguely assume it comes
from
the uselessness of a piece of burned toast.
|
And "toast" as an understatement for something burned to destruction.
[*] Peter Moylan spoonfed?
--
Jerry Friedman |
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Donna Richoux
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 12:02 pm
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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jerry_friedman@yahoo.com <jerry_friedman@yahoo.com> wrote:
| Quote: | Donna Richoux wrote:
|
[snip discussion of "Get some stones, dorktoasts"]
| Quote: | I don't think they *are*. I think it's from the well-known:
He that is without sin among you, let him first cast
a stone at her.
The (dorktoast) people were criticizing the professor, and the writer
of
the comment is saying, don't criticize unless you're as accomplished.
Yes, I will acknowledge that Cassell's includes "testicle(s);
courage"
among various other slang meanings of "stone." But I don't think that
is
applicable here. Telling people to get some courage when you are
actually jumping on them for being unduly negative is not even
sensible.
Telling them to get balls would mean to speak up *more*, not to hush
up.
I disagree. It could mean "get enough balls to stop whining and
wanting to be spoon-fed." [*]
|
All right, I can't really argue. If "Get some stones" or whatever can be
used to mean "Get going and make your own accomplishments match the
other's and therefore stop criticizing," fine. I have to take it on
faith, though, not having seen that combination.
Or maybe "Get some stones" has generalized to some completely vague
insult, like "You sound like an idiot." It's not *my* phrase.
| Quote: |
The first relevant Google hit for "get some stones" is from
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2004/07/27/f
ool295.DTL&type=printable> or <http://makeashorterlink.com/?B44312FC9>:
"Question of the Week responses: What do the Giants need to do some
damage in the playoffs?
[snip]
"* Get some stones and act like they belong there and deserve to win.
They've been there five times in seven years and got bupkus to show for
it. Enough already. -- Gary P."
|
However, you do agree that "get stones" is addressed there to the Giants
-- "They should get some stones" -- and not to any whining fan who is
asking "How come the Giants never do damage in the playoffs"? While in
the original post, it was the pathetic whiners who were being addressed,
not the accomplished professor. So it's not an ideal parallel. For that,
the couch potato would have to go enroll on the team, or something. But
better examples probably exist.
| Quote: |
Connecting it with the woman taken in adultery doesn't make sense,
because the guy would be telling people to get some stones to use for
punishment. If that were his meaning, he should be saying "Put the
stones down unless you're without sin."
|
Um, wait a minute, you haven't forgotten the famous irony in the
original Biblical story, have you? Jesus, to avoid the scholars' trap,
crafted a conditional. He said that, okay, people should cast stones at
the adulterous woman, as the law prescribed, but only if they examined
their own consciences or track records first (that's his part about who
should *begin* the stoning). When the men thought about it, none of them
could begin, and they left. Full story at
http://bible.gospelcom.net/cgi-bin/bible?passage=JOHN%2B8&showfn=on&show
xref=on&language=english&version=KJV&x=12&y=7
So "let him who is without sin cast the first stone" is said with full
intention that no stones should be thrown at all. And it applies loosely
to any "Don't criticize unless you've done better yourself" situation.
[snip]
| Quote: |
And "toast" as an understatement for something burned to destruction.
|
Yeah, what's that light-hearted but ghoulish nickname for burn victims?
"Krispy Kritters," that's it. I suppose if you work in emergency
medicine, you have to make light of awful situations from time to time,
but...
| Quote: | [*] Peter Moylan spoonfed?
|
Oh, was he spoonfing?
--
Best -- Donna Richoux |
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Linz
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:01 pm
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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"the Omrud" <usenet.omrud@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:MPG.1c05e297e658c63a98aa2b@news.individual.net...
| Quote: | A Goolie is a person from Goole, as are some of Wife's relatives.
|
Ex-mother-in-law: Isn't it a good job Rowntree's isn't based in Goole?
Me: Why?
E-m-i-l: Because they wouldn't have made Yorkie bars... |
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Will
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2004 6:03 pm
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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"Jess Askin" <nospam@dontbother.net> wrote in message news:<cng5sh$pke$1@news.netins.net>...
| Quote: | "Qp10qp" <qp10qp@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20041117121300.06002.00000441@mb-m21.aol.com...
What does the expression "Get some stones, dorktoasts" mean in the context
of
the following comments on the "Rate My Professor" website? (I like it and
wonder if it will be useful for bandying about over the meal table.)
"Very particular about usage. Excellent at explaining concepts. Very
neurotic
and tends to chew tobacco and spit in a cup while lecturing. If you are a
female, do NOT fall under his spell . . ..he's a heartbreaker."
"I took this class because of Prof.[David Foster] Wallace's reputation as
an
author. What a mistake! This guy just likes to hear himself talk, and he
won't
shut up. He knows how to play the part of a enigmatic "genius" all right,
but
most of my classmates were [tails off]."
"Yeah, it really sucks having the best writer of his generation teaching
us
writing. And yeah, it sucks having him talk all class. Why can't he just
be
quiet so we can sleep. i.e.: he's a super, idiosyncratic prof. A great
opportunity for exposure to a fascinating mind. Get some stones,
dorktoasts."
Here's [part of] a sentence from Wallace's "Westward the Course of Empire
Takes Its Way":
[unreadable drool omitted]
His own later comment on this work was "The stuff's a permanent migraine."
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This is the "best writer of his generation"? God save me from the lesser ones.
Will. |
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R H Draney
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:00 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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Evan Kirshenbaum filted:
| Quote: |
R H Draney <dadoctah@spamcop.net> writes:
"What's the matter, McFly? Got no scrotes?" - Back to the Future II
Isn't that more a case of trying to come up with "future slang"? Sort
of like "smeg off".
|
In eleven more years we'll know if they were right (keep an eye out for men
wearing two neckties at once and automobile license plates printed in
bar-code)...it scarcely seems possible, but we're now closer to that movie's
"future" than we are to its "present"....r |
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LarryLard
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:00 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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trio@euronet.nl (Donna Richoux) wrote in message news:<1gnf0rp.7xgax31pj1809N%trio@euronet.nl>...
| Quote: | "Toast" has been a popular silly word for the last ten years or so. I
don't know if it ever had any particular meaning besides the one of
"finished, history"; mostly, it just sounds innocent and amusing in all
combinations. Are there any darker shades of "toast" that anyone is
aware of?
|
I once had a two-slice toaster which would merely warm one slice while
burning the other to a crisp. That was a pretty dark shade of toast, I
can tell you.
--
Larry Lard
Replies to group please |
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Evan Kirshenbaum
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Nov 19, 2004 12:00 am
Post subject: Re: Get some stones, dorktoasts. |
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R H Draney <dadoctah@spamcop.net> writes:
| Quote: | Jess Askin filted:
No doubt. TV has come up with some peculiar euphemisms to get around
censorship policies.
Even before it hit TV:
"What's the matter, McFly? Got no scrotes?" - Back to the Future II
|
Isn't that more a case of trying to come up with "future slang"? Sort
of like "smeg off".
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
HP Laboratories |...as a mobile phone is analogous
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 |to a Q-Tip -- yeah, it's something
Palo Alto, CA 94304 |you stick in your ear, but there
|all resemblance ends.
kirshenbaum@hpl.hp.com | Ross Howard
(650)857-7572
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |
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